Shoe-fastener.



E. O. ROSENGRANZ.

Patented Jan. 24, 1911.

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EMIL C. ROSENCRANZ, 0F EVANSVILLE, INDIANA.

SHOE-FASTENEB.

seams.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 24, 1911.

Application filed March 2, 1909. Serial No. 480,847.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL C. Rosnncnanz, a citizen of the United States, residing at Evansville, in the county of Vanderburg and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shoe- Fasteners, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in fastening devices especially adapted for shoes.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and practical fastening of this character which will detachably and yieldably connect the fly and quarter or meeting edges of a shoe, which may be readily applied to shoes either during their course of manufacture or after they have been placed on the market and which may be also used for holding the shoe lacing to prevent the same from becoming untied.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel features of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view showing one application of the. invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the elastic member of the fastening before it is applied to the shoe; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the attaching member for fastening one end of the elastic member; Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the socket member of the fastening;

Figs. 5 and 6 are transverse sectional views through the elastic member taken on the planes indicated by the lines 55 and 6-43 in Fig. 2; Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the other member of the fastening; and Fig. 8 is a detail View of the upper of a button shoe showing another use of the invention.

In the drawings 1 and 2 denote the two members of the improved shoe fastening which are attached, respectively, to the two portions A, B of the upper of the shoe. In the application of the invention shown in Fig. 1, the shoe upper is fastened by lacing L and the invention is adapted to not only hold the parts A, B of the upper together but also to hold or clamp the tied ends of the lace so that they cannot work loose. The member 1 of the fastening comprises a strip of elastic webbing 3 and has at one end a metallic attaching part 4 and adjacent its other or free end a metallic part 5 which forms an eye or socket to receive a head 6 upon the other member 2 of the fastening. The attaching part 4 of the member 1 is formed from a single piece of metal by stamping and bending the same to receive and clench one end of the webbing 3 and to provide pointed fastening pins adapted to be passed through the upper of the shoe and to be bent to fasten the member 1 thereto. Said part 1, as clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, consists of a metal strip folded transversely upon itself to provide upper and lower portions 7, 8 having their opposing faces roughened or formed with spurs 9 which engage the webbing 3 and effectively hold it between the portions 7, 8 when the latter are pressed together. At the ends of the portion 7 are formed right angularly projecting pointed attaching pins 10 and at the center of the bottom portion 8 is a similar attaching pin 11. These pins 10, 11 are passed through the shoe upper and then bent over to fasten the member 1 to the shoe, as will be readily understood. This construction of the part 4 enables the device to be used as an attachment for ready application to any kind of shoe or other object, but it will be understood that when the invention is applied to shoes in the course of manufacture, the attached end of the elastic webbing 3 may be sewed or otherwise secured to the shoe upper. The socket part 5 of the member 1 is also formed from a single piece of metal cut and bent to provide an open body portion formed in its rear edge with a notch or recess 12 to receive the member 2 and with a stamped or socket portion 13 surrounding the recess 12 for the reception of the head 6 of said member 2.

Projecting from the four corners of the body portion of the part 5 are tongues 14: adapted to be bent upon themselves and around the webbing 3 for the purpose of attaching the part 5 to said webbing, the opposing faces of the bent portions of said tongues being formed with roughened surfaces or spurs 15 to enter the webbing and ell'ectively secure the part 5 thereon. Said part 5 is arranged a suitable distance from the free end of the webbing 3, which end is bent or folded inwardly upon itself to provide a doubled free end or finger tab 16,

whereby the member 1 may be readily grasped between the fingers to engage the socket part 5 with the member 2 or disengage the same therefrom. The extremity of the folded end of the webbing is brought beneath the part 5 and held by certain of the attaching tongues on said parts, as clearly shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings. The member 2 comprises a body plate 17 preferably of circular form and from the edge of whichis bent downwardly at right angles three or more tapered attaching ears 18 which are passed through the shoe upper and bent to fasten said member. From the center of the top of the body plate 17 projects a pin or stud 19 having the enlarged head 6 at its upper end.

The use of the invention will be readily understood upon reference to Fig. 1 of the drawings in which the fastener is shown applied to the top of the upper of a laced shoe and used not only as a fastening to close the upper but also as a clamp for holding the tied portion of the lacing from working loose. hen the invention is used in this manner, it will be seen that the shoe will be held closed even though the lace works loose, but if the elastic webbing is passed through the loops of the bow or knot of the lacing, its tied portion will be effectively held against working loose.

It will be noted that the peculiar construction of the fastening permits it to be readily applied to any kind of shoe. In Fig. 8 of the drawings two of the fastenings are shown applied to the upper portion of a button shoe so that the fly and quarter of the upper will be drawn together and held closely around the ankle. The use of the fastenings in this manner will dispense with the necessity of altering the positions of the buttons 011 a button shoe to make the upper properly fit the ankle. While only two uses of the invention are illustrated, it will be understood that the fastenings may be used in various other ways upon shoes and articles of wearing apparel.

WVhile I have shown and described in detail the preferred embodiments of my invention it will be understood that various changes in the form, proportion and minor details may be resorted to without depart ing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is:

The herein described shoe fastener comprising in combination with a shoe upper, a strip of elastic webbing, a metallic attaching member arranged on one end of said strip and secured to one side of the upper whereby the strip may be folded over the top of said member to substantially cover the same and extend over the open front portion of the upper, the free end of said strip being folded inwardly and rearwardly upon itself to provide a finger tab, and coacting separable fastening members, one being a head member and secured to the upper, and the other co-acting fastening member being secured to the inner face of the folded end of the strip of webbing and consisting of a plate formed with recessed sides to provide tongues which are bent inwardly to clamp the member to the webbing and fasten the folded end or tab of the webbing, the intermediate portion of the plate forming said member having a notch extending inwardly from its inner end to receive the head member, the portions of the plate around said notch being stamped to provide a socket for the head of said. head member, and said plate of the fastening member arranged to be covered by the strip of webbing, as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

EMIL C. ROSENCRANZ.

Witnesses JOHN A. RoUsH, H. D. SorIUL'rE. 

